8 Best Music Streaming Services (2026 Comparison)

Searching for the best music streaming services? You’re in the right place.

Whether you’re hunting for the biggest libraries, the best sound quality, or features that make discovering music easy, the right platform can make a huge difference.

Some are perfect for casual listeners, others are designed for audiophiles, and a few give artists more control over what they share.

In this post, we break down the best music streaming services, compare their features, pricing, and unique perks, and help you figure out which one fits your listening style.

The best music streaming services – summary

#1 – Spotify

Spotify is the most popular music streaming platform in the world. And it leads in market share by a significant margin. But its not all sunshine and rainbows as I’ll get onto in a moment.

No other service comes close to Spotify in terms of integrations and device compatibility. Those things have helped the platform remain the number one in terms of market share.

There are native Spotify apps for iOS and Android, and with Spotify Connect you can remotely control listening on all your home devices. Including PS4/PS5, Sonos speakers, Amazon Echo, Google Nest, and more.

Spotify also offers some of the strongest recommendation features available. As you listen, it learns your tastes and builds personalized playlists around them. Add in one of the largest music catalogs on the market, and it’s easy to see why Spotify became the default choice for so many people.

On paper, it’s a solid platform. But like any platform, it has its issues. I feel the majority of issues are largely policy based. And that’s why I eventually bailed on my subscription.

Spotify has been widely criticized for low artist payouts, especially compared to other streaming services. Over time, the platform has also expanded heavily into podcasts and audiobooks, which some artists and industry commentators argue has shifted focus away from music and musicians.

There has also been ongoing discussion around Spotify’s use of commissioned or pseudonymous music in certain mood-based playlists. Sometimes referred to in reporting as “Perfect Fit Content.” Critics say this approach can make it harder for independent artists to compete for visibility, particularly in popular editorial playlists. Essentialy it means real artists get bumped off playlists and replaced with their “Perfect Fit Content.”

On top of that, several artists I regularly listen to have chosen to remove their music from Spotify as a form of protest over the platform’s policies or leadership decisions. When artists I care about aren’t available, it takes away a big part of the value of the service for me.

Available in: 180+ countries (see list)

Pros and cons

Pros	Cons
Available on almost every device and platform	Subscription fees are distributed using a pooled model, which means payments aren’t tied directly to the specific artists you listen to
Excellent recommendations and discovery tools	Widely criticized for relatively low artist payouts compared to some competitors
Advanced feature set, including Spotify Connect	Platform is getting flooded with AI music
Solid free tier for casual listening	Ongoing controversies related to company decisions, content policies, and artist relations
Huge music catalog across most genres	Frequent in-app promotions and pop-ups, even on paid plans

Price

You can get started with Spotify’s free plan, but it’s limited and serves up ads. 

Spotify Premium offers a better listening experience for $9.99/month for individuals or $15.99/month for a family plan. There’s also a discounted student plan for $4.99/month.

#2 – Apple Music

Apple Music is the service I personally use after deciding to move away from Spotify. More on that later.

If you’re already using Apple devices, the platform integrates seamlessly across iPhone, iPad, Mac, and HomePod, making it a convenient choice. Beyond that, it’s a solid streaming service overall, and it consistently ranks as one of the most popular options among listeners.

One reason some people choose Apple Music is that it’s considered to offer relatively competitive artist payouts compared to other streaming platforms. Supporting artists can help ensure new music keeps coming, which is a win for listeners and creators alike.

Now, let’s get into the technical side:

Apple Music is more than just integration with Apple devices. It’s also known for its focus on audio quality.

The service streams AAC audio that delivers clear, high-quality sound. On top of that, Apple Music now offers a lossless HiFi option. Subscribers can access the full catalog in ALAC (Apple Lossless Audio Codec) at resolutions up to 24-bit/192 kHz.

And here’s the kicker: HiFi audio doesn’t cost extra. It’s included with standard subscriptions, which are already reasonably priced.

Apple Music is also available on Windows, so you don’t need a Mac to enjoy it.

Available in: 168 countries (including most places in the Americas, Europe, Asia, and Oceania)

Pros and cons

Pros	Cons
Higher average artist payouts compared to many streaming competitors	No free, ad-supported tier (only limited trials)
Strong focus on albums, credits, and artist presentation	Recommendations are generally considered weaker or slower to adapt than Spotify’s
Lossless and high-resolution audio included at no extra cost	Interface can feel cluttered or unintuitive, especially on non-Apple devices
Deep integration with Apple’s ecosystem (iPhone, iPad, Mac, HomePod, CarPlay)	Best experience is largely limited to Apple hardware
Large, well-maintained music catalog	Less emphasis on social sharing and collaborative features
Editorial playlists curated by human editors	Discovery relies more on editorial curation than algorithmic personalization
No ads or podcast content mixed into the music experience	Apps on Windows and Android are often described as less polished

Price

To unlock the full power of Apple Music, you can subscribe to an Individual plan for $9.99/month or a Family plan for $14.99/month. Alternatively, it’s included in an Apple One subscription.

A one-month free trial is also available.

#3 – YouTube Music

YouTube Music is a strong option for streaming. One standout feature is access to official music videos alongside your tracks, which makes it easy to enjoy both audio and video in one place.

If you already subscribe to YouTube Premium, YouTube Music is included, giving you a convenient way to stream music without any extra cost.

YouTube Music’s interface is one of those things that you’ll either love or hate. We really like it. In particular, the search function is excellent and makes it easy to discover new music and old gems through its video vaults. I also like the dark theme. It’s nice and easy on the eyes.

When you open a song in the YouTube Music app, you can select either Song or Video mode at the top of the screen. If you tap Video, you’ll be able to watch the music video on your device as you listen, which is pretty cool.

It offers comparably fast performance to Spotify, and has pretty good recommendations and discovery features too. It’s on most platforms and has excellent integrations across the board, especially with Google Assistant-powered home devices and speakers.

Another good thing is the deep integration with YouTube. As I’m surfing through music videos and adding them to a playlist, I can listen to them all via YouTube Music later.

Again, the biggest downside here is quality. It has a lower bit rate than Spotify as its capped at just 256kbps, and there’s no HiFi option. Nonetheless, it’s still very listenable and sufficient for most casual listeners.

Available in: Over 100 countries (including most places in Europe & the Americas)

Pros and cons

Pros	Cons
Massive catalog, including official releases, live recordings, and uploads	Audio quality is generally lower than lossless-focused competitors
Strong discovery powered by YouTube’s recommendation systems	Artist payouts are often criticized as being low
Included with YouTube Premium subscription	Music experience can feel secondary to video content
Works well across many devices and platforms	Album presentation and metadata can be inconsistent
Good option for casual listeners who already use YouTube	Interface and library management are often seen as weaker than rivals

Price

You can sign up for YouTube Music Premium for $9.99 per month ($4.99 for students). Alternatively, you can subscribe to YouTube Premium for $12/month to watch ad-free YouTube videos, which come with YouTube Music included.

#4 – Tidal

Tidal is a high-fidelity platform and one of the best music streaming services for audiophiles. Sound quality is exceptional across the board with a range of audio formats to choose from. 

There are three main formats to choose from on Tidal. You can listen to music in:

• ‘Normal’ AAC format (160 kbps) to save on data usage..
• ‘HiFi’ Lossless / FLAC format (1411 kbps) for a crisper music streaming experience at CD quality.
• ‘Master’ high-res MQA format (2304-9216 kbps) for the most authentic and flawless sound, exactly as the artist intended (only available on HiFi Plus).

Now it’s worth pointing out here that not everyone is convinced that MQA is everything it claims to be. Some audio experts say it’s worse than the lossless FLAC format. Nonetheless, it’s an option if you want to try it out.

HiFi Plus subscribers also get access to other innovative audio formats like Dolby Atmos and Sony 360 Reality Audio, which can add a new dimension to your listening experience.

Another one of the best things about Tidal is how it supports its artists. Artist payouts are much better than other platforms on this list, which makes it a sensible choice if you care about giving back to the musicians you listen to.

Up to 10% of the money you pay for a subscription goes to the artists you listen to the most every month.

Other things we like about Tidal include its awesome-looking interface, integration with Plex Media Service, and device compatibility.

In terms of drawbacks, there’s the aforementioned issue with MQA formats. Plus, while the app looks great, it can be a little buggy from time to time. And the discovery and shuffle algorithms aren’t the best.

Better artist payout than many other streaming platforms. Integration with Plex media server.

Available in: Over 60 countries

Pros and cons

Pros	Cons
Higher average artist payouts compared to many major streaming services	Smaller overall music catalog than Spotify or Apple Music
Lossless and high-resolution audio options	Higher subscription cost for full hi-res features
Strong focus on music over podcasts or audiobooks	Recommendations are often described as less refined than Spotify’s
Good album presentation and credits	App performance and UI can feel inconsistent across devices
Available on most major platforms and devices	Smaller user base limits social and discovery features

Price

A standard HiFi subscription costs $9.99 per month. HiFi Plus costs $19.99 and includes MQA and immersive audio options. Family plans and discounted plans are also available. 

You can try it out for 30 days for free.

#5 – Amazon Music

Amazon Music is one of the cheapest HiFi options if you already have Prime. It’s also a solid choice if you plan on streaming through Alexa devices (like the Amazon Echo).

Like Apple Music, Amazon hasn’t held back when it comes to quality. They offer CD-quality bitrates of 16-bit on over 75 million tracks, plus even more in 24-bit.

There’s also a huge catalog of songs mixed in spatial audio that you can listen to through your headphones without any special equipment for an immersive, surround-sound experience.

Device compatibility is excellent. You can listen to Amazon Music on Android and iOS apps, as well as on desktops (PC or Mac) through the web player or desktop app.

And of course, integration with Amazon home speaker products like Amazon Echo is second to none. It’s not the only streaming service supported by the Echo, but it is the best.

All that said, we don’t love Amazon Music’s app interface. It just doesn’t seem well organized and the user experience is lacking. For example, you can’t favorite songs and artists (only songs and albums), which is a little annoying. And other streaming services seem to do better when it comes to curated recommendations and music discovery.

If you’d like to learn more, check out our roundup of Amazon Music statistics.

Available in: US, UK, Canada, Japan, Australia, and many countries in Europe & South America

Pros and cons

Pros	Cons
Large music catalog	Poor UX
Lossless and high-resolution audio included with higher-tier plans	Discovery and recommendations are generally considered weaker
Integrates well with Amazon Echo and Alexa devices	Best features are tied closely to Amazon’s ecosystem
Competitive pricing for Prime members	Apps can feel slow or inconsistent across certain platforms
Widely available across devices	Less emphasis on editorial curation and artist storytelling

Price

Amazon Music Unlimited plans start at $9.99/month or $8.99/month if you have a Prime membership. A 3-month free trial is available.

#6 – Deezer 

Deezer is another high-quality streaming service worth checking out. It has over 90 million HiFi tracks that you can listen to in lossless, high-quality audio formats. Plus a growing catalog of 360 Reality Audio tracks.

One of the things we like most about Deezer is its cutting-edge feature set.

For example, there’s the Deezer-exclusive Flow feature, which uses the power of AI to serve up an infinite mix of tracks you’ll love based on your mood. All you have to do is pick a filter from the mood wheel (e.g. chill, motivation, melancholy) and let the platform be your personal DJ.

There’s also the Lyrics feature for when you feel like singing along to the music, a download function so you can listen offline, and even an integrated SongCatcher tool that can recognize songs playing around you and add them to your track list so you can listen later.

In terms of apps and integrations, Deezer is almost on-par with Spotify. It’s available in most of the same places, plus some places where even Spotify isn’t available.

And like Tidal, Deezer has a user-centric payout system that allocates your subscription payments to the artists you listen to most.

My biggest gripe with Deezer is its content limits. There are certain caps on how you can use it. For example, you can add up to 10,000 tracks to your favorites, 2,000 playlists, 1,000 artists, etc. Most people won’t reach these limits, but it’s still worth being aware of.

Learn more in our roundup of Deezer stats where we look at how many users it has, it’s growth, marketshare, and more.

Available in: 185+ countries

Pros and cons

Pros	Cons
Solid music catalog with strong international coverage	Smaller user base than major competitors
Flow feature offers personalized, continuous listening	Recommendations are often seen as less precise than Spotify’s
Offers lossless audio on higher-tier plans	Interface design can feel dated according to some users
Available on many devices and platforms	Less visibility for exclusive content or major releases
Clear separation between music and podcasts	Limited cultural impact and fewer third-party integrations

Price

Deezer offers an ad-supported Free plan. The Premium plan costs $10.99/month and the Family plan costs $17.99/month. You can try it for free for 1 month.

#7 – Pandora

Pandora is the best music streaming service for personalized recommendations. It’s only available to listeners in the US.

Pandora is different from the other platforms in this list. Its USP is that it’s designed to create a personalized listening experience that evolves with your tastes. The algorithm gets to know what you like and serves up hand-curated music picked out just for you.

It’s powered by the Music Genome Project. The most comprehensive analysis of music ever to be done. Pandora’s team of musicologists has spent years listening to music across different genres and studying how individuals relate to different musical attributes and details in their tracks.

The result is one of the best recommendation algorithms around. To further personalize music for your tastes, Pandora uses a ‘thumbs up and thumbs down’ feature. You click thumbs up or down depending on whether you like a song and Pandora feeds that back into the algorithm to determine what plays next.

If you get a song you don’t like, you can skip it as many times as you want (though you’ll have to view an ad first if you’re a free user). Premium users can also search for and play any song in Pandora’s library on demand.

The main downside is that the Audio quality is pretty poor, comparatively speaking. And while Pandora has its own thing going on, it can’t really compete with the other streaming services we’ve looked at so far in terms of things like integrations, performance, etc.

If you’re curious about the state of Pandora’s growth and customer-base, check out our post on Pandora statistics.

Available in: US

Pros and cons

Pros	Cons
Excellent radio-style listening and music discovery	Limited on-demand playback compared to modern streaming services
Simple, low-effort listening experience	Smaller catalog for full album listening
Free tier available	Artist payouts have been widely criticized
Strong genre and mood stations	Less control over playlists and libraries
Familiar platform for long-time users	Feels outdated compared to newer competitors

Price

You can get started with Pandora Free. 

To unlock unlimited ad-free skips and personalized stations, upgrade to Plus for $4.99/month. If you want to make and share playlists, and search and play for music without viewing ads, you can upgrade to Premium for $9.99/month.

#8 – IDAGIO

IDAGIO is the best music streaming service for classical music. You can think of it like Spotify but for classical music buffs.

IDAGIO is actually the only audio streaming and concert subscription service in the world specifically designed for listening to classical music. Its mission is to bring together artists and listeners with a joint passion for the genre.

So if you’re into your Beethoven, Mozart, and Tchaikovsky, this is the best place to get your fix.

And IDAGIO knows what its audience wants. Aside from a curated track list of millions of classical pieces, there are a few other features classical music connoisseurs will appreciate in a streaming service.

First off, there are the discovery features. Here’s the thing: You can listen to classical music on other streaming services like Apple Music and Spotify. If you can find them. But finding them is easier said than done on these mainstream platforms. 

Why? Metadata. You see, searching for popular music usually requires only a handful of metadata. The artist, song, and the album is pretty much all you need to find what you’re looking for. 

This isn’t the case with classical music, where metadata can include everything from the composer, orchestra, choir, conductor, piece title, number or nomenclature indicating its order in the larger symphony, etc. You get the idea.

IDAGIO gets it too. That’s why it’s made sure to include all the necessary metadata so that searches are a breeze. You can browse by composers, conductors, instruments, genres, periods, and more to discover new classical music. And if you’re not already a classical buff, you can use the Discover button to explore essential listening and curated themed playlists.

You can also stream exclusive live performances of your favorite classical artists on the world’s biggest stages in IDAGIO’s concert hall, network with like-minded listeners and artists in IDAGIO’s interactive creative spaces, and more.

Available in: Over 190 countries (not including Mainland China or Hong Kong)

Pros and cons

Pros	Cons
Built specifically for classical music	Very limited appeal outside the classical genre
Excellent metadata (composers, conductors, movements)	Smaller overall catalog compared to mainstream platforms
High-quality audio focus	Higher cost relative to general-purpose services
Album and work-focused listening experience	Not designed as an all-purpose streaming platform

Price

IDAGIO offers a basic Free plan. Paid plans start at $9.99/month.

Final thoughts

Choosing a music streaming service comes down to what matters most to you as a listener.

Every platform has its own strengths and trade-offs, from catalog size and audio quality to device compatibility, recommendations, and subscription options.

Some services excel at personalized discovery, others prioritize high-resolution audio or album presentation, and some are better for curated playlists or niche genres.

Factors like user experience, integration with devices, and access to your favorite artists can also make a big difference in how much value you get from a subscription.

Ultimately, the “best” streaming service is the one that matches your listening habits, priorities, and personal preferences.

And some preferences will matter more than others. For example, if you want to support your favourite artists more, choose a platform that will pay them more when you listen to them.

By considering the trade-offs outlined in this article, you can find the platform that gives you the experience you want, whether you’re a casual listener, an audiophile, or someone who just wants easy access to their favorite music.

And if you’d like to learn more about the industry in general, check out our post on music streaming statistics.